Jump ropes and related fitness gear have been used for hundreds of years, but the science of using ropes and other elongate flexible members for various exercise regimens is rapidly becoming much more complex than a mere rope.
For example, Duvide™ jump ropes introduced an important aspect of jumping technology in the early 1990's including the relative orientation of handles with respect to the associated rope or other flexible material. For example, the Duvide™ brand dG model has handles that are oriented substantially orthogonal to the associated rope. The dG model also include hollow handles in which lead shot may be added to increase the weight of the handles.
Although the Duvide™ brand ropes offer some helpful features for trainers and exercise enthusiasts to have some flexibility when using such ropes, it is particularly cumbersome to alternate or otherwise replace one type of handle for another (or, as another example, one rope portion for another). Moreover, after mass in the form of lead shot is added through a considerably small hole in the end of a handle, such shot is very difficult to remove because each small piece must find its way through the small hole. Additionally, if a trainer wanted to be sure how much mass to add to a second handle, such trainer would have to literally weigh the first handle with loaded shot and then add shot to a second handle, weighing the second handle perhaps multiple times until the same weight measurement is reached.
What is needed, therefore, is an exercise apparatus for jump training that includes more convenient features.